Breaking Big

Penny Draper

Description

Robin’s got everything it takes to be a principal dancer: the body, the feet, the strength and the passion. But his devil-may-care attitude plays havoc with discipline at the Premier Dance School. One more prank may be one too many. That’s why everyone is shocked when he’s the only student dancer picked to understudy with the company, even though the choice makes sense—Robin is cast as Puck, the annoying trickster fairy in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Shock turns to horror when the principal dancer is injured and Robin has to perform instead. The other dancers don’t think he can pull it off, and even Robin wonders if it’s too much too soon.


Will his big break kill his career before it even starts?

Sujets

• Shakespeare
• Performing Arts
• Juvenilee Fiction
• ELL
• Teaching English as a foreign language
• English as a foreign or second language
• Dance
• William Shakespeare
• EAL
• Electronic Sports League
• Estonian Air
• Puck

Informations

• Publié par: Orca Book Publishers
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781459809253
• Langue: English

Extrait

BREAKING BIG
Penny Draper
O R C A B O O K P U B L I S H E R S


Copyright 2016 Penny Draper
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Draper, Penny, 1957-, author Breaking big / Penny Draper. (Orca limelights)
Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-4598-0923-9 (paperback).- ISBN 978-1-4598-0924-6 (pdf).- ISBN 978-1-4598-0925-3 (epub)
I. Title. II. Series: Orca limelights PS 8607. R 36 B 74 2016 j C 813 .6 C 2015-904498-7 C 2015-904499-5
First published in the United States, 2016 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015946191
Summary: When another ballet dancer s injury lands him a major role, mischief-loving Robin must face his friends jealousy and the biggest challenge of his dance career in this novel for teens.
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Cover design by Rachel Page Cover photography by Corbis
ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS
www.orcabook.com
19 18 17 16 4 3 2 1


To Clinton, who dared to dream big

Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Acknowledgments

One
“Hurry up, enough already!
I add the final touches. All the pointe shoes are braided together and hanging from the ceiling, loose leotards and leggings are stuffed into the Lost and Found, and Sybille and Johanna s lockers are stacked. I set Jeremy s rat cage on a bench and put all the hairbrushes inside it-along with Ratinski the rat. He s sure going to have fun for the next hour or so! Then a quick swipe of Vaseline on the combination locks. There s no time to do anything else. I check to make sure the door is locked from the inside, then climb out the window onto Cam s shoulders. He s laughing so hard I think he s going to drop me.
What took you so long? croaks Jeremy in a whisper as I drop down to the ground and we hoof it away from the girls locker room. I was sure we were going to get caught!
I am an artiste , I reply loftily, waggling my fingers. Best prankster this side of the Rockies.
The girls are going to go ballistic, laughs Cam. I can t wait to see Miss High-and-Mighty s face!
Ah, yes, the lovely Odette, late for class. I pretend to swoon. The whole world may come to an end!
Jeremy checks the time. We need to get to class.
Yeah, we better be warming up when Mr. Colson arrives, so he won t suspect anything, I agree.
Oh, come on, Rob, get real, Cam punches me in the arm. Of course he ll suspect you!
As we walk over to the rehearsal studio, I think about that. Yeah, it s probably true. I do have a rep for this sort of thing. But honestly, the dancers at this school are so intense. I mean, ballet is great and all, but can t everybody loosen up? I ve been at the Premier Dance School for three years now, and some of these elite dancers can be real stiffs. Yeah, yeah, I know, ballet is all proper and solemn, and there are a lot of rules, but do you have to follow them all the time? I see absolutely no reason why dancers can t crack a smile from time to time, so I ve decided to make it my mission.
It s 9:46 AM . We re first in the studio, as planned. We re well into our warm-up when Mr. Colson arrives and looks around.
Where are the ladies? he asks.
We shrug our shoulders and keep warming up. Ten o clock comes and goes, but no girls. Mr. Colson s getting antsy. At exactly 10:22 the girls come roaring into class, shoe ribbons trailing, hair in loose ponytails instead of tight buns, warm-ups thrown over shoulders. Perfect! Even the marvelous Odette has a loose bobby pin.
Charis is hopping on one foot as she tries to put on a shoe. Sorry, Mr. Colson. We couldn t get into our dressing room-the door was locked!
All eyes in the room turn to me. What? I ask innocently. Cam and Jeremy are doing face contortions, they re trying so hard not to laugh. We ll need to work on that. I used to practice innocent looks in the mirror. I can coach them.
Steady on, ladies, says Mr. Colson. Take a minute, catch your breath, and pull yourselves together. And get that hair fixed! If Miss Amelia comes in and sees all that hair flying about, there will be consequences! Then he turns to the rest of us.
Men, the ladies will need some time to warm up, which is an opportunity for you. I know we don t usually begin with the double tour en l air, but let s not waste the chance. I get the evil eye. Robin. Perhaps you could start.
Shoot. This wasn t supposed to happen. I hate the double tour. Every male ballet dancer has to be able to do one. It s the grand finale, the showy finish, the most important move of the whole dance for a guy. And I can t do it. I mean, I can do everything else. Of all the guys in the pre-professional program, I m one of the best. And that s not bragging-it s fact. But I can t do a double tour.
Odette is smirking as I take my place in the middle of the room. I ignore her. I am a rocket. I can fly.
And I try to believe it as I go through the move in my head: feet in fifth position, pli , then fly straight up, rotating as I go. Twice. I take a deep breath and start the prep. Angling my right foot ninety degrees and my left ninety degrees in the opposite direction, I push my feet together, left heel touching right toe, right toe touching left heel. I bend my knees, energy shoots from my toes upward, and I m flying, I m turning
Robin, I ve told you again and again. Keep your hips level! If your weight isn t the same on both feet, you ll shoot sideways, not straight up. Mr. Colson sighs. You can t fit the turns in if you re sideways. Again.
And again, and again. Okay, I get that I m being punished. But enough already!
Robin, that s enough for today-you re going to hurt yourself. Finally . The girls are ready, and we all go to the barre. My thighs are on fire for the rest of the class. Maybe I should have listened to my dad and become a soccer player. It would have been easier than ballet school.
All right, everyone, remember that class is canceled this afternoon. The company is back from their tour, and they ll need the large studio to prepare for tonight s fundraiser. Dinner will be served early, and you are all to meet in the lobby by six o clock to hand out donor forms and meet with patrons. Dress presentably. Thank you very much.
Jeremy bumps me on the way out of class. Ya gotta breathe when you jump, man! You look like a blocked pipe ready to blow!
I shove him back. Hmm. Could be messy.
Cam catches up. Yeah, I always knew you were full of it!
Jeremy busts up laughing.
I lunge at Cam, who fakes a double tour to get out of the way. Then Charis gives me a shoulder punch while I m off-balance.
Hey! I shout.
Serves you right! she says. That stupid rat destroyed my hairbrush!
As if a brush could help that rat s nest you call hair, Odette sneers as she rolls her eyes and pushes out the door. We all ignore her.
Come on, it was just a joke, I say.
A joke? Do you see me laughing? says Mavis. I got Vaseline all over my leotard. It ll never come out!
Okay, I m sorry, I say. I m sorry!
Charis glares at me, but then-wait for it-yeah, I get a bit of a smile. I can always count on Charis.
You make me crazy, Robin Goodman, she says, grinning at me. You know I hate you?
Nah, you love me. You all love me.
Mavis gives me another punch for that, but she s smiling too. Mission accomplished. Except, of course, for odious Odette, but she s beyond hope.
Hey, look! interrupts Jeremy. There they are.
We stop horsing around. All of us, even Odette, watch a bunch of the company dancers take over the studio. They ve been on tour for a month, and it s like all the energy goes out of this place when they re away. This is what we re here for, after all. To learn to be like them. To study and practice and totally wreck our bodies, all for the chance to take our place onstage and dance. As we watch, I m looking for Noah Grayson. He s a principal. In a dance company, that s what the stars are called, the ones who get all the lead roles. Noah s the most amazing athlete I ve ever seen, even if at thirty-five he s kind of old. But he isn t there.
There s Rick Mathews! Sybille sighs dreamily. She leans closer to the studio window to get a better look. Don t you think he s amazing?
Cam snorts.
Sybille, I thought you were in love with Daniel, Johanna says, pointing to a company dancer warming up in torn green sweats. Or was that last week?
Dreamboat? Isn t that what you called him? Charis asks sweetly.
Cam, Jeremy and I are all laughing now.
Eww. Of course not, replies Sybille. Didn t you hear how he messed up on the tour? How could anybody fall for a guy who misses his entrance cue?
Unbelievable. It s true that ballet dancers live in kind of a weird world, but only we can be so socially backward as to fall out of infatuation because of a missed cue.
When I get into the company, I m counting on girls loving me for my body, not my entrance cues, I state firmly.
Sybille turns